VICTORIAN BUSHFIRES: WHO'S TO BLAME?

By now, pretty much the entire world has heard of the all-consuming bushfires that tore through several small towns, some not more than villages, in Victoria, Australia.

However they started (and I by no means have accepted that they were deliberately so) they ceased after razing 413,000 hectares of bush, and almost everything within - a total of 800 or so homes. Some homes were spared - by a mixture of accident and design.

So far, 181 people have died, and let's face it - they burnt to death, roasted alive in pure, shrieking agony.

The most intense period has now passed; smaller areas still burn but none are a threat.

Now the focus turns to how it happened. Fingers shot up and out as everyone pointed en masse. And most accusations are valid.

Ineptitude,
complacency,
Stupidity.

One man has been arrested and charged with several offences, including starting a bush fire. Causing death by fire and a few more the prosecutor can think of. An electricity company is also facing a class action suit, after it emerged one of their power poles collapsed and allegedly started one of the fires.
It must be said, though, that somewhere in the region of 40 or so fires raged around the Melbourne area. Are we to believe they all were either deliberately started or as a result of electricity poles? A bit of a stretch wouldn't you say?
And consider this: in temperatures sitting around 50 degrees celsius, all it takes to ignite bone dry tinder is a simple piece of broken glass at just the right angle to direct and intensify the blistering heat. Once started, as has been proven, it won't stop until the fuel runs out.


This is the reason this horrifying act of man and nature occurred.

The authorities were caught napping. A warning system trialled in Victoria wasn't implemented for reasons of privacy and the eventual victims were unaware of the danger approaching. In fact, of the 181 killed, the vast majority died whilst fleeing the flames, because they were driven by 100 kph winds and came up on homes rapidly. Leaving them with the only option to stay or flee and as people do - they panic. Panic kills.
This "napping" is similar to the American's Hurricane Katrina response. Currently our intrepid heroes are "backburning", a classic case of "closing the stable door after the horse has bolted", hence the allusion to Katrina.
Typical bloody experts.

The homeowners, for their part, enjoyed a self-imposed blissful ignorance. Like a mantra, they silently thought, "it'll never happen to me". All Australians think this at one time or another. They built their homes, or moved into one, virtually IN trees; the foliage so close as to touch the structure. Very beautiful indeed - until the worst happens then...
(FYI: Eucalypts, or Gum trees as they're otherwise known, have an oil in their leaves which roars like a blowtorch when consumed by fire). They sat silent, in the peaceful surrounds of their mountain bush paradise, while the trees shed. Gum trees, shed their bark every year. Resulting in this thick carpet of material roasted by the fierce heat of a summer Australian sun, and as flammable as petrol. To give an idea of how dry this material is, it's akin to walking on cornflakes. Everything is brittle, completely devoid of any moisture.
(Let me put it this way: ONE match - just one, could - and did, we're told, start this fire).

The local council, backed by Peter, "I used to be a rock star" Garrett, and his cretinous greenie mates in Parliament, refused to permit adequate clearing of risk material at a high risk distance from the given property. One homeowner, whose home it must be said was protected from any danger on account of the clearing the man had done, was fined 30,000 dollars by his Gestapo-like council for committing said clearing. To be fair though, if every man and his dog were to move into an area, and each cleared the requisite amount, then the bush itself would disappear (affecting soil structure, animal life etc.) Nevertheless, if it comes down to a few trees or my home...the jumped up little Hitlers at council can get fucked, frankly!

Ultimately...you're responsible for your own home. If you choose to move and/or build in an area that clearly constitutes "high risk", then it's on you to have an escape or defence plan if ever a blaze does erupt. A case in point has emerged where a man stayed with his home and armed with just wet towels and buckets of water, prevented it from being burnt down.. But for the main - people froze. And looked to their government to protect them. Are we learning yet, people? The above "ineptitude" and "stupidity" refers to the best efforts your government were able to provide. But man, do they have their hands on that stable door now!

Australians, white Australians, have lived on this continent for 200 years. Captain Cook, in his journal, made mention of the fires he saw from his ship off the coast, and in those days, fires of unimaginable magnitude raged through the continent. So in fact, before white man set a single foot on the continent, the existence of these fires was known.
After 200 years, one would imagine they would have figured a way to prevent or harness them. Actually, they will never be prevented. Fires are all part of the regeneration process. Postpone them this year and next year they'll return with a vengeance. Postpone 10, 20, 30 years...and we have the recent bushfires.

Ineptitude,
Complacency,
Stupidity.

Of course this will happen again. If they can't learn in 200 years, what makes anyone think this latest inferno's going make any difference.

And hey - the media's having a field day with it. A veritable smorgasboard of heroes, and tragedy; heartwarming fluffy animal stories; the mob raging for the hide of the alleged arsonist.